Suns' inconsistency preventing any quality

PHOENIX -- In an attempt to embrace this version of the Phoenix Suns, we're co-opting the spirit of an inspirational declaration once made by a guy who coached football around here. The Suns are what you were worried they might be. Well, most of the time. That's how things are perceived when a team is consistently inconsistent. Anyway, while passing the quarter pole of this season during Tuesday's 99-96 loss to the now-5-13 Toronto Raptors, the Suns offered further evidence to support what was suggested by recent home losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and New Jersey Nets. Yeah, despite the lockout and much belly-ached-about compressed schedule, this may seem like a really long season. Now checking in at 6-11, the Suns are providing what a lot of observers anticipated from a team that finished 42-40 last season and filled this season's pre-summer-of-free-agency roster with players who didn't mind signing one-year contracts. For gruesome testimony, we give you point guard Steve Nash: "We just don't have the talent to go out there and win games," he said, seemingly referring to past Suns editions that simply ran away from the opposition. "We've got to find a little bit something extra; we've got to find a little magic in our chemistry and cohesion, and we haven't found it yet." They do, however, seem to know the way to the roller-coaster. One night after making shots at a 37-percent rate in Dallas, the Suns were sitting at a comfy 50 percent through three quarters Tuesday ... but still trailed the Raptors by eight. "We're just trying to establish consistency," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. A quick Suns review provided by an advance scout working for another NBA team dovetails nicely with what Gentry proposed. "Every time I watch 'em," the scout said of the Suns, "it's something different. I've seen the Suns play great defense one night and look terrible the next. One night the offense is flowing and looks pretty familiar to past years, then they can't get anything going the next. "And this inconsistency can go from quarter to quarter. But it's not like this is something rare in the NBA. It happens to a lot of teams, especially this season without much preparation time. But those are teams that usually don't win very much." At least Phoenix is threatening consistency in one respect. According to numbers posted on basketball-reference.com, the Suns were ranked 19th among NBA teams in offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency before losing to Toronto for the first time in 15 games. That means the low-velocity offense we've been witnessing really is worse than last season and just as bad as it seemed this season. That also means the defense, while improved since last season, does little more to inspire fans than remind them just how bad it was for most of 2010-2011. On Monday in Dallas, they scored 27 points in the opening quarter, but only finished with 87. The Mavericks put up 32 in the first quarter of the same game, but only managed to shoot 40 percent the entire night ... and still beat Phoenix. Against Toronto, the Suns outshot the visitors 47.6 percent to 41.5, but fell behind when Andrea Bargnani pumped in 18 of his season-high 36 points in the third quarter. The 7-foot Raptor, returning after missing a few games with a calif injury, knocked in four pick-and-pop 3-pointers during that stanza. "We didn't show hard enough and get out quick enough," Gentry said of his team's screen-roll defense. Much of that particular breakdown can be tracked to rookie power forward Markieff Morris, who grabbed one rebound against Toronto after taking down 11 in Dallas. Morris, who joined the starting lineup with Ronnie Price after last week's defensive catastrophe in Chicago, continues to be a work in progress ... much like Gentry's quest to find which startersub rotations will give the Suns the best chance to win. "We're still trying to figure out if that's a good thing or not," Gentry said of starting the former Kansas Jayhawk at power forward. "(As a starter) He's going up against front-line guys now. I'm not sure if that's good for him." While attempting to help Morris mature into the player he's demonstrated he can be, Gentry also has to pick between Channing Frye and Hakim Warrick when rationing minutes at power forward. Warrick's defensive challenges had kept him on the bench lately, but the Suns' struggle to score -- coupled with Toronto's previous trouble in doing the same -- provoked a 25-minute Tuesday stint that provided Phoenix with 17 points ... and one rebound. Frye continues shooting blanks, making just 1 of 7 from the field. "I'd rather see him shoot it with confidence and go 0 for 12," Gentry said, "then have him pass up shots." Although Nash has been pretty steady in delivering scoring opportunities and bagging his own shots, he went 2 for 9 in Dallas before hitting 8 of 14 against Toronto. "If you're winning, everyone feels good, chemistry is good," Nash said. "But I also think it's a funky season and you got to just keep your head down and keep working and keep believing." With that in mind, let's not forget center Marcin Gortat, whose 21-point, 12-rebound performance represents his ninth consecutive double-double. That's pretty nice consistency. It just hasn't let the Suns off the hook.